James Joseph Giltinan (1866–1950) was an Australian entrepreneur who helped to introduce the sport of

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

football to Australia. The J. J. Giltinan Shield, which is awarded annually to the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

minor premiers, was named after him.

Founder and administrator

Founder of rugby league in Australia

On 8 August 1907 at Bateman's Crystal Hotel, George Street, Sydney politician

Henry Hoyle Henry Clement Hoyle (20 November 1852 – 20 July 1926) was an Australian politician and rugby league football administrator of the 1890s and 1900s. A life member of the New South Wales Rugby League, Hoyle is credited with helping to craft ...

chaired a meeting of fifty, including several leading rugby players and officials. The

New South Wales Rugby Football League The New South Wales Rugby League Ltd (NSWRL) is an Australian rugby league football competition operator in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission.It was registered on 21 ...

, the body that would go on to conduct the major national rugby league premiership of Australia, was founded and Giltinan was elected its first secretary. Before that he had invited the 1907 " All Golds" New Zealand professional rugby team to tour Australia ''en route'' to Britain. Giltinan led the first

Kangaroo Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

tour to England in 1908. An all round sports enthusiast, Giltinan had also officiated as an umpire in representative cricket matches. At the beginning of the season, the

1909 NSWRFL season The 1909 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the second season of Sydney's top-level rugby league football competition, Australia's first. Eight teams contested during the season for the premiership and the Royal Agricultural S ...

the League had met and kicked out its founders, Giltinan,

Victor Trumper Victor Thomas Trumper (2 November 1877 – 28 June 1915) was an Australian cricketer known as the most stylish and versatile batsman of the Golden Age of cricket, capable of playing match-winning innings on wet wickets his contemporaries found ...

and

, although Giltinan remained Hon. Secretary of the

New South Wales Rugby League The New South Wales Rugby League Ltd (NSWRL) is an Australian rugby league football competition operator in rugby league in New South Wales, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Co ...

from its inception until the final six months of his life, resigning due to ill health in the early months of 1950. Giltinan was also President of the Annandale Rugby League Club during the club's early years.

Sailing administrator

In 1935, Giltinan formed a breakaway from the established Sydney Flying Squadron. His tenure at the Australian 18 Footers League culminated in his founding the

JJ Giltinan International Trophy The JJ Giltinan International Trophy is considered the world's premier 18 foot dinghy, 18-foot skiff open championship, the eponymous brainchild of noted Australian sports entrepreneur J. J. Giltinan. Early days – 1930s and 1940s In the early ...

. This event is effectively the world championships for the spectacular

18ft Skiff The 18 ft Skiff is considered the fastest class of sailing skiffs. The class has a long history beginning with races on Sydney Harbour, Australia in 1892 and later in New Zealand. The boat has changed significantly since the early days, brin ...

class and is contested each year on Sydney Harbour.

Death, funeral and tributes

J J Giltinan's last public appearance was when he watched the Kangaroos win The Ashes at the S.C.G. on 22 July 1950. He died less than three months later, on 6 September 1950. His funeral was held the following day at St. Clement's Church, Marrickville. Many former Rugby League identities were on hand to say farewell, including members of the 1907 Pioneers and members of the original Kangaroos of 1908-1909, such as

Alf Dobbs Alfred Dobbs (1878−1954) was a pioneer Australian rugby league footballer from the 1900s. Alf ‘Bullock’ Dobbs was a rugby union convert who played with Balmain and Glebe in the amateur game before talking part in the NSW rebel series aga ...

, Sid Deane,

Dan Frawley Dan Frawley (1882–1967) was a pioneer Australian rugby league footballer, a national representative player. He played his career as a with the Eastern Suburbs club in Sydney and is considered one of the nation's finest footballers of the 2 ...

Ed Fry Edward "Son" Fry (1879–1968) was an Australian rugby league and rugby union footballer. He was one of the founding players of rugby league in Australia at the time of the rebel code's breakaway from rugby union. He played for New South Wales ...

, Bob Graves, Harry Glanville,

Arthur Hennessy Arthur Stephen "Ash" Hennessy (24 September 1876 – 19 September 1959) was an Australian pioneer rugby league identity. He was a seminal figure in the creation of the South Sydney Rabbitohs for whom he played and later coached. He was a state an ...

Andy Morton Andy Morton (1882–1950) was a pioneering Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1900s and 1910s. An Australia international and New South Wales state representative backline player, he played club football for North Sydney and ...

and

Larry O'Malley Larry 'Jersey' O'Malley (1883–1967) was a pioneer Australian rugby league player for the Eastern Suburbs club. He was the fifth Australian rugby league captain and the second from the Eastern Suburbs Club. Before switching codes and joining ...

. The President of the New South Wales Rugby League, Harry "Jersey" Flegg also attended the large funeral. The J J Giltinan Shield was created for the following

season in his honour. Giltinan was awarded life membership of the

in 1914. Giltinan was born on 30 August 1866 and is a relative of notable Australian tennis professional

Bob Giltinan Robert Gary Giltinan Order of Australia Medal, OAM (born 4 July 1949) is an Australian former professional tennis player who was a grass court specialist. He won one singles title and two doubles titles over a twelve-year career spanning the int ...

. In ''

The First Kangaroos ''The First Kangaroos'' is a 1988 British–Australian made for TV sports film directed by Frank Cvitanovich and starring Dennis Waterman, Chris Haywood and Dominic Sweeney. It depicts the 1908–09 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain, the first-ever s ...

'', a 1988

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

–

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

made for TV

sports film A sports film is a film genre in which any particular sport plays a prominent role in the film's plot or acts as its central theme. It is a production in which a sport or a sports-related topic is prominently featured or is a focus of the plot. D ...

, the role of James Giltinan was played by well known Australian actor

Chris Haywood Chris Haywood (born ) is an English-born Australian actor, writer and producer, with close to 500 screen performances to his name. Haywood has also worked as a casting director, art director, sound recordist, camera operator, gaffer, grip, lo ...

In August 2019, Giltinan was inducted into the

National Rugby League Hall of Fame The National Rugby League Hall of Fame was first established as the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame in 2002, before being reestablished in 2018 in its current form. The hall of fame honours the contributions made to the National Rugby League, ...

Footnotes

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Giltinan, James Joseph 1866 births 1950 deaths Rugby league players from Sydney Australian cricket umpires Australian rugby league players Australian rugby league administrators Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees